Top 5 Players of the Weekend

Learn more about five players who put up a great weekend through a high finish, interesting deck, or memorable moment.

5. Zachary Kanner

Zachary Kanner

Zachary Kanner battled through a field of Bant Company and G/W Tokens with a new control deck, opting for Abzan over Esper, W/B, and G/B options. Kanner utilized 12 Planeswalkers along with a suite of removal and green creatures like Den Protector and Sylvan Advocate. Kanner’s run came to an end in the quarterfinals to Ethan Phelps and Bant Company. Check out Kanner’s Abzan Control decklist here.

4. Cory Dissinger

Cory Dissinger

Cory Dissinger was the talk of the tournament, crushing the Swiss with a record of 13-1-1 with his unique take on G/U Crush. The deck showcased the power of Crush of Tentacles, even being able to loop it with Den Protector. The Traverse the Ulvenwald package allowed Dissinger to find Emrakul, the Promised End or any number of tutor targets to answer any problem, going as deep as Rogue’s Passage. While Dissinger made it into the Top 8 as the top seed, his run ended in the quarterfinals when he fell to Chris Andersen and his build of Bant Company. Though he didn’t win the tournament, Dissinger’s deck stole the show this weekend. Check out Dissinger’s G/U Crush Deck Tech here.

The captain of Team Cardhoarder was looking to make it back-to-back wins for the new team and its build of Bant Company. Andersen improved on his 11-4 finish last weekend in Columbus, making into the Top 8 as the eighth seed. Once in the Top 8, Andersen upset the top seed, Cory Dissinger, and his powerful G/U Crush deck. Andersen fell to wins short of bringing another trophy to his team, losing to Osyp Lebedowicz in the semifinals. Though Andersen came up just short, his Top-4 finish will lift him into the Top-32 on the SCG Tour® Player of the Year leaderboard, good for one bye in Syracuse. Check out Andersen’s Bant Company decklist here.

2. Zach Plott

Zach Plott

There were 53 copies of Bant Company in Day 2 of #SCGBALT, but Zach Plott made it the farthest with the deck. Plott’s build used two copies of Eldrazi Displacer in the main deck, moving Nissa, Vastwood Seer to the sideboard. Plott took down two Bant Company mirrors in the Top 8, beating Matt Tumavitch and Ethan Phelps before his finals match with Osyp Lebedowicz. Plott put up a fight, but couldn’t overpower G/W Tokens, leaving Bant Company the most popular deck, but second on the weekend to the second-most popular deck in the room. Check out Plott’s Bant Company decklist here.

G/W Tokens was the best deck in Standard before the release of Eldritch Moon and it looks like it might still have that title after #SCGBALT. Osyp Lebedowicz played G/W Tokens with no cards from the newest set, taking down Bant Company just like the deck did before cards like Spell Queller and Selfless Spirit existed. Lebedowicz took down Zach Kanner on Abzan Control in the quarters, Chris Andersen on Bant Company in the semis, and Zach Plott on Bant Company in the finals. Lebedowicz, the former Pro Tour champion, can now add an SCG Tour® trophy his mantle filled with a variety of titles. Check out Lebedowicz’s G/W Tokens decklist here.